Communications Officer
Over 40 members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps) provided support to the Accession Council in London on Saturday 10 September. Members of the Corps assisted with the running of the event and supported the organising team.
The Corps is honoured to have a strong historical connection with Queen Elizabeth II; in 1945, the then HRH Princess Elizabeth trained with the FANY/ATS as a driver and in motor mechanics. During the first three weeks of training, Princess Elizabeth received driving lessons in Windsor Great Park and went through the complete training of an ATS driver. Princess Elizabeth became the twelfth member of a senior NCOs class and took maintenance, map-reading and ATS Administration.
In the words of the FANY Commanding Officer at the time, Commandant Maud MacLellan:
“The King and Queen and the Princess herself insisted there should be no privileges for her. She was to be treated as a junior officer. As such, she called me Ma’am and was ever ready to open a door for me and do other little services. She was there as a junior officer – no more, no less.”
Lisa Giles, The Corps’ Commanding Officer, said:
“We were honoured to play our part in such a historic ceremony. HRH The Princess Royal has been our Commandant-in-Chief since 1981 and in 1999, after HRH The Princess Royal kindly gave permission to use her title, the Corps changed its name from WTS (FANY) to: FANY (Princess Royal’s Volunteer Corps), commonly abbreviated to: FANY (PRVC). We were delighted to welcome Her Royal Highness most recently to our first annual camp following the pandemic in May and we are honoured to provide support wherever needed.
“The Corps has a long connection with the Royal Family of which we are very proud, and it was a privilege to be able to provide support to such an important event for the nation.”